Structure for controlling soap discharging quantity of soap dispensing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A structure for controlling soap discharging quantity of soap dispensing apparatus includes a connector coupling with a liquid soap container by screwing that has a bottom housed in a sleeve. The sleeve has a pump housing on one side formed by an elastic pressure bulb. The sleeve has a discharge opening on the bottom and houses axially an upper valve and a lower valve that form a valve chamber therebetween. The tubular wall of the sleeve on the pump housing on an upper end of the lower valve has a hole. The tubular wall of the sleeve on the upper end of the upper valve has an upper hole. The upper hole can disperse pressure entering the valve chamber to make outlet of the valve chamber smaller thereby to reduce output quantity of the liquid soap. An action passage of vacuum suction force can also be formed to suck the liquid soap held on the bottom of the soap container into the valve chamber.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a structure for controlling soap discharging quantity of soap dispensing apparatus and particularly to a soap dispensing apparatus that has a valve chamber and a pump housing divided by a partition which has an extra hole to adjust discharging liquid soap quantity according to different viscosity to improve utilization of the liquid soap.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Liquid or creamy detergents such as liquid soap or alcohol generally are held in a container which has an outlet coupling with a dispensing apparatus to discharge the liquid soap at a desired quantity. Reference of the liquid soap dispensing apparatus can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,020 as shown in FIG. 1. It includes from top to bottom a sleeve 11 coupling with a liquid soap container, a plurality of apertures 12 on the bottom of the sleeve to allow liquid soap 20 to pass through, a connection duct 13 fastened to a lower side of the sleeve 11 that has a pump housing 15 on one side formed by an elastic pressure bulb 14 and a pair of valves in the connection duct 13 on the bottom of the sleeve 11. The valves include an upper valve 16 and a lower valve 17 that form a valve chamber 18 between them. The tubular wall of the connection duct 13 between the valve chamber 18 and the pump housing 15 has a hole 19. The bottom of the connection duct 13 has a discharging opening 21. The two valves 16 and 17 are located in the flowing direction of the liquid soap. When the pump housing 15 is compressed by an external force (shown by a solid arrow in the drawing), the pressure pushes the upper valve 16 so that its peripheral edge forms a tight contact with the tubular wall 22 to close the inlet of the valve chamber 18 to stop the liquid soap from entering. Meanwhile, the pressure pushes the lower valve 17 so that its peripheral edge forms a gap with the tubular wall 22 to open the outlet of the valve chamber 18 to allow the liquid soap to be squeezed out through the discharging opening 21. By contrast, when the pressure is absent in the pump housing 15, the pressure bulb 14 returns to its original shape due elasticity to generate a vacuum suction force (shown by a broken arrow in the drawing), and the outlet of the valve chamber 18 closes and the inlet opens so that the liquid soap 20 in the sleeve 11 flows into the valve chamber 18.

The liquid soap dispensing apparatus set forth above transmits alterations of the pressure or suction force of the pump housing 15 to the valve chamber 18 to control opening or closing of the upper valve 16 and lower valve 17 to supply the liquid soap. The hole 19 has to be formed at a desired diameter to transmit the pressure or suction force between the pump housing 15 and the valve chamber 18. However, the quantity of the liquid soap being squeezed cannot be controlled and adjusted at a desired quantity. In the event that the liquid soap has different viscosity, to adjust the discharge quantity as desired in not possible.

The liquid soap dispensing apparatus previously discussed has another shortcoming, namely the liquid soap is squeezed into the valve chamber through its own weight. In the event that the liquid soap is almost depleted or only a small amount remains, its weight is not sufficient to push flowing of the liquid soap. Hence even if the inlet of the valve chamber is open, the liquid soap still cannot flow into the valve chamber. As a result, the liquid soap cannot be fully utilized.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a structure for controlling soap discharging quantity of soap dispensing apparatus that has a valve chamber and a pump housing divided by a partition which has an extra hole to adjust discharging liquid soap quantity according to different viscosity to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional liquid soap dispensing apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a structure for controlling soap discharging quantity of soap dispensing apparatus that has a valve chamber and a pump housing divided by a partition which has an extra hole to channel liquid soap into the valve chamber even when the liquid soap is almost depleted or only a small amount remains thereby allows the liquid soap to be fully utilized.

To achieve the aforesaid objects, the structure for controlling soap discharging quantity of soap dispensing apparatus according to the invention includes a connector screwing on a liquid soap container and a duct on the bottom of the connector inserting into the top end of a sleeve. The sleeve has a seat on one side. The seat has an opening on one side sealed by an elastic pressure bulb to form a pump housing. The sleeve has a discharge opening on the bottom and an axial strut inside to couple with an upper valve and a lower valve. The upper valve has a top end in contact with the bottom end of the duct of the connector. The upper valve and the lower valve form a valve chamber between them. The tubular wall of the sleeve has holes on the bottom of the seat. There is a lower hole located on an upper end of the lower valve.

The invention includes a feature as follow: an upper hole is formed on the tubular wall on an upper end of the upper valve above the lower hole. The upper hole can disperse the pressure in the valve chamber during operation of the soap dispensing apparatus so that the outlet of the valve chamber becomes smaller to reduce output quantity of the liquid soap. The upper hole also provides an action passage for vacuum suction force so that when the liquid soap contained on the bottom of the container cannot be squeezed out by the gravity it still can be sucked into the valve chamber to be used.

Thus the upper hole in the soap dispensing apparatus can deliver a desired liquid soap output quantity according to different viscosity of the liquid soap to overcome the shortcomings of the conventional liquid soap dispensing apparatus and fully use the liquid soap and increase use duration.

The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a soap dispensing structure of a conventional liquid soap dispensing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the soap dispensing apparatus of the invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of an embodiment of the soap dispensing apparatus of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of an embodiment of the soap dispensing control structure of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an embodiment of the bottom structure of the sleeve seat of the soap dispensing apparatus of the invention.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are schematic views of an embodiment of the soap dispensing apparatus of the invention in operating conditions.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the embodiment of the soap dispensing apparatus of the invention connected with a liquid soap container and then inserted into a soap squeezer.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 2 through 5, the soap dispensing structure according to the invention includes a connector 30 coupling with a liquid soap container 4 by screwing. The connector 30 has a duct 31 on the bottom with an annular groove 32 formed thereon to couple with a sealing ring 33. The connector 30 is inserted into a top end of a sleeve 34. The sleeve 34 has a seat 35 on one side. The seat 35 has an opening side sealed by a pressure bulb 36 through a washer 38 to form a pump housing 39. The sleeve 34 houses an axial strut 50 which is coupled with an upper valve 51 and a lower valve 52. The upper valve 51 has a top end in contact with the bottom end of the duct 31. The upper valve 51 and the lower valve 52 form a valve chamber 53 between them. The tubular wall 57 of the sleeve 34 on the bottom of the seat 35 has two upper and lower holes. The upper hole 54 is located on an upper end of the upper valve 51. The lower hole 55 is located on an upper end of the lower valve 52. The sleeve 34 further has a discharge opening 56 on the bottom.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, like the conventional liquid soap dispensing apparatus, the upper and lower valves 51 and 52 are tightly located in the flow direction of the liquid soap. When the pump housing 39 receives an external force (shown by a solid arrow in the drawings) and is compressed, the pressure pushes the upper valve 51 so that its edge forms a tight contact with the tubular wall 57 to close the inlet of the valve chamber 53 and the liquid soap 6 cannot enter the valve chamber 53. Meanwhile, the pressure pushes the lower valve 52 downwards to make its edge to form a gap with the tubular wall 57 to open the outlet of the valve chamber 53. Hence the liquid soap can be squeezed out through the discharge opening 56. On the contrary, when the pressure is absent in the pump housing 39 the pressure bulb 39 returns to its original shape due to elasticity and a vacuum suction force is generated; the outlet of the valve chamber 53 closes and the inlet opens, hence the liquid soap 6 in the connector 30 flows into the valve chamber 53 to be discharged during the next operation cycle when the valve chamber 53 is open again.

The invention differs from the conventional liquid soap dispensing apparatus mainly by adding the upper hole 54 on the seat 35 that is located on the upper end of the upper valve 51. The upper hole 54 aims to reduce the pressure in the valve chamber 53. When the pump housing 39 is compressed by an external force, the upper hole 54 disperses a portion of the pressure so that the pressure passing through the lower hole 55 and acting on the upper and lower valves 51 and 52 is lower. As a result, the outlet gap between the edge of the lower valve 52 and the tubular wall 57 is smaller and the amount of discharging liquid soap also is smaller. When the upper hole 54 has a greater opening size, the pressure being dispersed also is greater. Hence the pressure applying to the valve chamber 53 is smaller and the amount of the liquid soap 6 being discharged also is smaller. Thus the liquid soap being dispensed can be reduced to increase the supply duration of the liquid soap.

The upper hole may have different size to deliver different amount of liquid soap. Table 1 below shows test results of the upper hole of varying sizes for dispensing liquid soap of a given viscosity. The test results indicate that the existence of the upper hole can effectively reduce output amount of the liquid soap. Through different sizes of the upper hole the output amount of the liquid soap can be adjusted to meet different requirements.

TABLE 1 Liquid soap output Upper hole diameter amount 0 1.8 1.0 1.5 1.1 0.8 1.5 0.5 2.0 0.3 Liquid soap viscosity: 35 dpa · s

Refer to FIG. 7 for another function of the upper hole. When the pressure in the pump housing 39 is absent, a vacuum suction force (shown by the broken arrow in the drawing) is generated. The suction force sucks the liquid soap 6 at the bottom end of the duct 31 through the upper hole 54, and the inlet of the valve chamber 53 is opened to receive the liquid soap into the valve chamber 53. Therefore the liquid soap can be fully utilized without relying on the gravity force of the liquid soap.

Refer to FIG. 5 for the structure for controlling soap discharging quantity of soap dispensing apparatus of the invention. In an embodiment the lower hole 55 is a pair of slots symmetrical on the left side and right side. The hole may be formed in any other shapes and arranged in a juxtaposed manner. Similarly, the upper hole 54 may be a round hole or any other single hole of a desired shape, or a plurality of holes arranged in a juxtaposed manner.

Refer to FIG. 8 for the embodiment of the structure for controlling soap discharging quantity of soap dispensing apparatus of the invention. The connector 30 is coupled with the liquid soap container 4, and the sleeve 34 is housed in a soap squeezer 7 driven electrically. The soap squeezer 7 can detect the presence of users to automatically dispense a selected amount of liquid soap. Other use methods may also be adopted, such as the soap squeezer may be driven manually, or the liquid soap is squeezed out by directly depressing the pressure bulb 36 without using the soap squeezer.

While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiments of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention. 

1. A structure for controlling soap discharging quantity of soap dispensing apparatus, comprising a connector coupling with a liquid soap container and a sleeve which has a top end to house the bottom of the connector; the sleeve having one side coupled with an elastic pressure bulb to form a pump housing and housing axially an upper valve and a lower valve that form a valve chamber therebetween, the tubular wall of the sleeve between the pump housing and the valve chamber having a hole on an upper end of the upper valve, the valve chamber having an outlet which is opened through the hole when the pump housing receives a pressure to allow liquid soap to be discharged through a discharge opening on the bottom of the sleeve; the valve chamber having an inlet to receive the liquid soap into the valve chamber; wherein the tubule wall of the sleeve has an upper hole located above the hole and the upper valve to reduce output quantity of the liquid soap.
 2. The structure for controlling soap discharging quantity of claim 1, wherein the hole is a pair of slots symmetrical on a left side and a right side.
 3. The structure for controlling soap discharging quantity of claim 1, wherein the hole is formed in a desired shape and arranged in a juxtaposed manner.
 4. The structure for controlling soap discharging quantity of claim 1, wherein the upper hole is a round aperture.
 5. The structure for controlling soap discharging quantity of claim 1, wherein the upper hole is a single aperture formed in a desired shape.
 6. The structure for controlling soap discharging quantity of claim 1, wherein the upper hole includes a plurality of apertures arranged in a juxtaposed manner. 